With the power of conviction, there is no sacrifice
by savvyliterate
Summary: "I thought after the Great Intelligence that it was the consequences of the Doctor's timeline being invaded. But, it's not that." River dragged in a deep breath. "It's the Time Lords. They're trying to prevent a resumption of the Last Great Time War."
1. Chapter 1

**NOTES:** This is an episode rewrite of "Time of the Doctor," so any recognizable dialogue comes from the original script by Steven Moffat. The title comes from Pat Benetar's "Invincible." This takes place in the same continuity as "I love thee to the depth and breadth and height my soul can reach," but it's not necessary to have read that before this story. Assume that the Ponds were with the Doctor all throughout series 7.

* * *

The oven thermometer refused to budge, no matter how much Amy fiddled with the knobs, pleaded, or swore at it. It stayed at a cool 200 degrees, and the wall clock over her shoulder ticked away annoyingly, mocking her with the passage of time.

"No use," she huffed as Rory paced behind her with the house phone in hand. "Even if we could find someone to come work on the oven on Christmas Day, it's too late to do a decent attempt at a turkey. My parents are going to be here in less than an hour!"

"We have two time travelers in the family." Rory pushed his free hand through his hair as he made another turn around the kitchen. "You would think that one of them would have a mobile at hand."

"I don't even need _them_ per se. I just want a bloody sonic!" Amy smacked the oven door with her fist. "Quick, Rory, what can we do in place of a turkey?"

He pivoted and yanked open the tall, narrow cupboard where they kept their dry goods. "Ah, we have a couple cans of tinned soup, a box of Kraft dinner, a half-eaten box of cereal, and something I can't quite identify."

"Is it that tin of Spam the Doctor insisted on trying?"

"No. I literally can't identify it." Rory pulled out a jar with a rust-colored lid and sniffed at it. "Wonder what this is?"

Amy grabbed the phone from Rory as he started rummaging through the utensil drawer for their jar opener and tried the TARDIS again.

"Hello! The TARDIS!" The Doctor, a bit harried, came on the line, and Amy breathed a sigh of relief.

"Emergency!" she yelped. "I need you to come roast my turkey."

"OK, brilliant!" Something loud crashed in the background and forced Amy to hold the phone away from her ear for a moment. "Roast your turkey? Is that some sort of euphemism for something naughty, Amelia Pond? I might have to consult a manual, but I don't think Rory's going to really go for it."

"No, you ninnyhead!" Amy yanked the oven open and snatched the pan out. "My oven's broken, and my parents are due at the house in roughly 45 minutes for Christmas dinner. I need to cook the turkey. I was thinking I could use the oven in the TARDIS."

"Cook the turkey? Really? Is that all you want me for? You can't keep using the TARDIS like this. Roasting turkeys, missed birthdays, restaurant bookings. Here's some advice: please just learn how to use iPlayer!"

"Doctor!"

"All right, all right, I'll be right there, Pond! Just a couple seconds. I'm interpreting a message."

"What sort of message?" Amy dropped the pan on the table as Rory unscrewed the jar and set it on the counter. A green-scaled hand reached out and plucked a button off the Christmas jumper he wore. He yelped and leaped back.

"That's what I'm trying to find out. Thousands and thousands of ships are surrounding this shielded planet out in the middle of nowhere. The planet is sending off a message, but no one can understand it, and nothing can get through. Not even the TARDIS. You and Rory should come with me, have a crack at it!"

"Maybe the message's from River." Amy grabbed a box of instant mashed potatoes from the cupboard and began reading the instructions as the jar on the counter tipped over, and a small lizard-like alien crawled out and lunged for Rory. He snatched up a butter knife and pointed it at the lizard. It rose on its hind legs, grasped a spoon in its clawed hand, then smacked at the butter knife.

"First thing I thought, but this isn't River. She's more obvious about it all, and she always makes sure that I can decode it. By the way, where is your daughter?"

"Not here. You haven't tried contacting her?" Amy smiled when she heard the Doctor muttering to himself in response. "You don't want her besting you at your own problem."

"If anyone can do it, she can," he said morosely. "She'd just take six seconds and have it all figured out then be all smug about it. No, I can just pick her up after I decode the message."

"Aw, isn't that sweet. You want to impress her."

The Doctor's response was muffled by a loud bang and about two seconds of rapid snapping. "Ah, there we are! Be there in two tics, Pond!"

Rory dueled the creature until it backed into the jar. Then he grabbed the lid and screwed it back on just as Amy sighed and put the phone back on the charger. "So, what was in the jar?" she asked.

"Random alien." Rory shoved the jar to the back of the cupboard just as the doorbell rang.

"No, they're early!" Amy cried. "Maybe it's River?"

"Since when did River do anything as mundane as use the doorbell?"

"Amelia?" Tabetha Pond's voice floated in from the lounge, and Amy sighed.

"I'll greet them." Rory squeezed Amy's shoulder and walked into the lounge. Amy braced her hands on the table and glared at the turkey as he greeted her parents. If the force of her glare could cook a turkey, it'd not only be done by now but be a charred remain smoking on her kitchen table. Amy snatched up the box of dehydrated potatoes, groaned, then shoved it in the cupboard next to the jar of random alien. She grabbed a bag of potatoes from the bottom of cupboard and dragged it to the sink. If the turkey was going to be a mess, at least she would do real mashed potatoes and not reconstituted ones.

"Amelia?" Tabetha walked into the kitchen. She surveyed the stacks of dishes, the uncooked turkey, and shook her head. "How's the turkey?"

Amy scrubbed at the potatoes with a brush to clean them. "Great. Just fine. Well, more like dead and decapitated, but that's Christmas when you're a turkey." She dumped the potatoes in a bowl and grabbed a peeler.

"Rory said your oven was broken."

"Got someone coming to deal with it." Amy stood at the sink with her bowl of potatoes, peeling as fast as possible.

"What can I do to help?" Tabetha bussed Amy's cheek.

"Go sit with Dad. Brian should be here soon. Visit with Rory." _Let me fume in peace._

Tabetha tut-tutted. "You really need a better peeler. Look get a sharp kitchen knife, and-"

"I'm fine, Mum, really," Amy interrupted just as she heard the faint strains of a familiar wheeze out the window. "Oh, thank God." She pressed the half-peeled potato and peeler into her mother's hands. "Keep going with this. I'll be back." She snatched the turkey pan off the table and ran.

"Amelia, isn't the electrician supposed to come inside to look at the oven? Amelia!"

"I know what I'm doing! Hi Dad! Bye Dad!" Amy ran through the lounge, past her father and Rory, and out into the bitter December cold. The wind whipped at her hair, and she instantly regretted not donning a coat. She darted across the street to where the waiting TARDIS stood in the park. Shifting the turkey pan to one hand, she managed to get the door open without help.

"Doctor, you are a-" She cut off as the Doctor glanced up from the controls and beamed. He stepped around the console, confirming her initial glimpse. "No! Stop!" Amy whirled around, mortified. "Don't move! Don't do anything!" She clutched the turkey pan tightly and prayed for sanity.

"Why? What is it? What's wrong?"

"You're naked!"

"Yes, I am naked! I was wondering if you'd notice."

Amy rolled her eyes. She was quite sure her near-blind Great Aunt Rosamund would notice. She was dearly afraid to hear the answer, but had to ask it anyhow. "Doctor, why are you naked?"

"Because, Amelia Pond, I am going to church!"

The surprise nearly had Amy pivoting around, but common sense kicked in at the very last second. "Most people don't go to church without their clothes."

"Ah, but you do with the Church of the Papal Mainframe! No flipperies or flopperies or obsessively large hats. Nothing comes between them and the truth, not even skin coverings! Next stop after emergency turkey cooking. Which, here you are!" The Doctor walked over to face Amy, and she nearly squeezed her eyes shut before realizing he was back in his tweed and bow tie. Her arms went limp and he grabbed the turkey pan before it could topple to the ground.

"OK, that one is weird, even for you," Amy said as she followed the Doctor down the stairs to the coils of wires that powered the time rotor.

"I've projected a clothes hologram directly onto your visual cortex. I'm still naked, but you're visualizing my clothes. How do I look?" The Doctor spun around with Amy's turkey in his arms.

"Great. Pretend clothes. This isn't the Emperor's New Clothes."

"How do you think that fairy tale came about anyhow? Ah, here we go!" The Doctor yanked a panel open and shoved the pan deep into the TARDIS.

"You have a kitchen. You actually have six of them," Amy reminded him.

"Yes, and one solely dedicated to the production of hot cocoa. Want a cuppa?"

"Not now. Why can't we use one of the ovens?"

"Because, it's a turkey. Do you want it cooked, or do you want it edible?"

"You mean there's actually a choice?"

The Doctor pointed at her and grinned. He swept up the stairs and grabbed her in a hug. Amy returned it, relaxing into his arms as he sniffed the top of her head. Her mad, impossible Raggedy Doctor. She tried to remember the last time he'd dropped by. It had been at least a month, edging closer to six weeks. His visits weren't spaced as far apart as they had been after he began cloaking himself from the rest of the universe, but she and Rory still saw River far more often than they saw the Doctor.

"Amy!" Rory walked into the console room, her coat draped over one arm. "Your mum's asking where you've gone off to. How's the turkey coming?"

"Rory, cover your-"

Rory took two steps and froze. "You're naked!"

"Rory the Roman!" The Doctor released Amy and held out his arms.

"You're naked, and you're hugging my wife. Why are you hugging my wife while naked?"

"Oh, sorry." The Doctor pulled out his sonic and waved it at Rory. "Really, you shouldn't be so prudish. You did spend 2,000 years as a Roman. Now, how do I look?"

"Like you're still naked but making me believe you have on clothes."

"That's the spirit!" The Doctor clapped Rory's shoulder and pulled him into a hug as well.

Rory awkwardly patted his back. "So, you really are still naked underneath there?"

"Everybody's naked underneath their clothes, Rory."

Rory lifted his eyebrows and nodded. "Point, but do you have to be naked around my wife? It's a bit odd."

"Oh, it's not like I haven't seen those sort of bits before. On you! Not the Doctor! You!" Amy hastily interjected when Rory's jaw fell open. She rolled her eyes. "Oh, never mind. How are you using the TARDIS to cook a turkey?"

"Exposure to the time winds," the Doctor said as he programmed the TARDIS, then pulled the lever to take them into the vortex. "It'll either come up a treat or just possibly lay some eggs."

Rory rubbed his forehead and circled the console until he reached a new object docked in one of the ports. "Is this a Cyberman head?" he asked, nudging it.

"Bit of a Cyberman I modified to help me decode the message. He'll get us to church on time."

"You spent your spare time reconfiguring a Cyberman head," Amy said. "Are you bored, Doctor? Really, really bored? You know, you have a wife for these sorts of things."

"Don't be so crude, Pond." The Doctor consulted one of the monitors and adjusted their path. "I got it from the Maldovar market. The organics are all gone, but there's still a full set of data banks."

"At least tell me you didn't name it."

"Of course I named it. Why wouldn't I?"

Amy threw her hands in the air. "Oh, great. He's going to keep it."

"At least," Rory supplied, "it's better than the triceratops." Amy considered it a moment, then nodded in agreement.

"Now, hush. Don't violate the memory of Tricey." The Doctor hefted the Cyberman head into his arms. "They didn't mean that, Handles. Not really."

Handles' eyes flashed, and its jaw began working up and down in a way that truly impressed Amy. The Doctor had a slap-and-dash way with machinery that defied all expectation. If anyone could get a Cyberman's head to be functional without inciting a murderous riot, it would be him. "This one's not going to randomly attack me like that other one, is it? The one beneath Stonehenge?"

"Naw, doesn't have a body nearby. Besides, you got a Roman standing there!" The Doctor pointed at Rory, then at Amy.

"I think it's pretty harmless this time," Rory murmured.

"Information available. Planet identified from analysis of message," Handles clucked in a mechanical voice. "Processing official designation. Processing."

"Right, well. In your own time then." The Doctor placed Handles back on the console.

"Haven't you tried to land the TARDIS on the planet?" Amy asked.

"It's shielded. Not even the TARDIS can break through it." He scowled as Amy and Rory exchanged a _look_. "And don't even say it, I know what you're thinking."

"I'm just saying, River is a better driver," Amy acknowledged. "I mean, who was the one who threaded us through those time winds when we got caught up in the whirlwinds of Afaxla?"

"Oh, don't even start," the Doctor groaned and turned his back on them.

"You know, he does have a point," Rory said. "Men hate it when they're told women are better drivers than them." He slapped a hand over his mouth, instantly regretting it.

Amy whirled on him. "_Excuse me_?"

"I mean um … don't listen to me … I don't even know what I'm talking about anyhow," Rory babbled.

"If you think you're going anywhere _near_ my bed anytime soon," Amy hissed, "you've got another thing coming."

Rory hung his head in shame.

"Gallifrey." Handles' voice cut through the tension and drew all the attention to him.

The Doctor slowly walked to the console, shoulders ridged. Breathing slowly, he leaned in close to severed head. "What did you say?" he asked in a voice so soft that it sent chills up Amy's spine. "What are you talking about? Gallifrey? What do you mean?"

"Confirmed. Planet designation – Gallifrey."

The Doctor snatched Handles off the console, snapping off several parts of the base in the process. Pieces skittered across the floor as he stalked to the monitor and shoved Handles into it. "You see _that_? That is not Gallifrey. I know my home when I see it, and that planet is most certainly not it!" He slammed Handles back down so hard that several more pieces flew off.

"Doctor!" Amy dashed around the console to intercept him. He sidestepped her, heading for the door.

"Gallifrey's gone," he spat at her.

"But the thing with the painting," Rory ventured. "I thought the whole point of it was that you had saved it."

"Hey, hey, it's OK," Amy soothed, managing to stop the Doctor in his tracks.

"That's not my home, Amelia," the Doctor said, shoulders rigid from tension. "Even if it survived, it's gone from this universe."

"But, you're not alone. Right? Look at me," Amy ordered, and the Doctor's gaze begrudgingly met hers. "You've got us. Me and Rory and River. You're not alone. You said we'd figure out a way."

The Doctor didn't say anything for a moment, but his shoulders slumped. Amy let out the breath she didn't even know she held. It hadn't been that long ago in her relative past that for the first time, she had encountered multiple versions of the Doctor. He had just landed at the park across from their home for a visit – taking them to the centennial of America's Declaration of Independence – when UNIT had helped themselves to the TARDIS. What followed had been a whirlwind adventure that toggled between the present, Elizabethian England, and the Doctor's home planet of Gallifrey as two versions of the Doctor and the Time Lord who refused to acknowledge himself as such stopped a Zygon invasion and pulled off a risky attempt to save Gallifrey.

She was half of a mind to march to the console and dial River herself before there was a loud crash, and the TARDIS pitched a bit. Amy stumbled, and the Doctor caught her as Rory braced against the console. "What's that?"

The Doctor pulled open the door to reveal one of the largest ships that Amy had ever seen. It seemed more like a cathedral on space engines than any sort of traditional ship. Fascinated, she ducked beneath the Doctor's elbow for a closer look.

"It's the Papal Mainframe," he told her. "It's like a great big, flying church. First to arrive here. That much hasn't changed in millennia. Always got to be the first to spread the gospel. But, in this case, they're the one who shielded the planet. Ergo, they're the ones that can get us down there."

A hologram flickered on the side of the ship, revealing a severe-looking woman with dark hair, frowning down her nose at them before crooking her finger. Something about the look made Amy feel queasy. Everything about her screamed of Madame Kovarian, the hideous bitch that had stolen her baby girl and tortured her into adulthood. But that was ridiculous, as Kovarian had disappeared even after the Doctor and River restored the frozen time years ago. Although an elder River had comforted her, although part of Amy did not regret killing the monster who had taken her baby, part of her still regretted and feared the woman.

"She looks like Kovarian," Rory said from behind Amy. Earlier argument forgotten, Amy slipped her hand into his and squeezed hard.

"Tasha Lem, the Mother Superious," the Doctor explained. "Know her from my early years. A very long time ago in a galaxy far, far away."

"So, you knew her from _Star Wars_?"

Amy laughed, grateful for Rory.

"Swallow this." The Doctor handed each of them a pill.

Rory hesitated as Amy popped the pill in her mouth. "What is it?"

"A hologram projector. You can't go to church with your clothes on!"

"Oh no. I don't really want to-"

"Rory," Amy hissed.

"I don't want strangers watching me naked!"

"Oh, I don't know." Amy tossed her hair back. "Feels kind of freeing, yeah? You can stay here if you want. I'm going with the Doctor. Ship full of naked men. I've had dreams about that."

Because he had no intention of allowing his wife on a ship full of naked men without him, Rory took the pill.

* * *

Much to Rory's relief - and Amy's regret - the earlier projection the Doctor had enabled the three of them to walk through the Church with the illusion that everyone else was wearing clothes. Even so, he fidgeted and every so often covered his most vulnerable areas when a set of eyes lingered too long.

Unashamed, especially since she pretended that the clothes-projecting hologram was actually reality, Amy took in the rows of people lining the red carpet that led to the Kovarian-like woman. Tasha Lem, she reminded herself. "What is this Papal Mainframe?"

"The Church of the Papal Mainframe. Security hub of the whole universe."

"Church?" Panic rose inside her. "Like Kovarian?"

"No, no, nothing like that," the Doctor reassured her.

"Are you sure? Properly sure?" Amy halted him, spun him to face her. "Are you promising me that you didn't just march us right into the headquarters of the group that kidnapped me? That kidnapped my baby? _Your wife._"

"I assure you that there have been no authorized kidnappings of any infants under my watch," Tasha spoke up, pulling their attention back to her. "Your nudity is noted and appreciated. That's quite the new body you have there, Doctor."

He smirked. "Amy and Rory, this is Tasha Lem, the head of the Church of the Papal Mainframe. Tasha, these are the Ponds."

"Um, Williams," Rory corrected.

"No, Ponds," Amy re-corrected.

"Did I hear you say _wife_?" Tasha arched an eyebrow. "Well now, there's the change. You failed to update your official status."

"I'm too busy for the likes of _Facebook_," the Doctor spat.

Tasha beckoned to one of the clerics standing near the dais. "We'll go to my chapel. All honours in place, no sacrifices required."

"Hurray," Rory murmured as she led them to a door in the back of the room.

"It was Tasha who shielded the planet," the Doctor explained to Amy and Rory. "But you could sneak me down there, couldn't you, Tash?"

"I would have conditions," Tasha said, then frowned at Amy and Rory. "I have confidential matters to discuss with the Doctor. Would you excuse us?"

Amy and Rory exchanged a knowing look. "So, you're inviting the Doctor into your private chambers for a _confidential_ discussion?" Amy asked.

"Anything you have to say to me, you can say in front the Ponds," the Doctor hastily cut in. He considered, scratching his cheek. "Well ... quite a lot of it. Probably about half, maybe a smidge ..."

"Did we mention we're his in-laws?" Feeling outraged on behalf of her absentee daughter, Amy neatly inserted herself between the Doctor and Tasha. "I'm sure we must have. So, if you'll just lead the way, please?"

Resigned, Tasha stepped back to allow the Doctor, Amy, and Rory into her chambers. Amy's hunch was immediately confirmed when she spotted the huge, ornate altar-shaped bed that took up a good bit of the room and was at least the size of several small countries smashed together.

"That altar looks like a bed," Rory said, impressed.

"That bed," Tasha corrected as she moved to a bar and began mixing drinks, "looks like an altar." She handed wine out, smiling fondly as the Doctor sipped then spat it out. "You never do change."

Tasha reached around the Doctor to press a button. A series of electronic, ringing beeps emerged, and the Doctor cocked his head. "It's the message I was listening to when you phoned," he explained to Amy and Rory.

"It's transmitting through all of time and space," Tasha agreed. She turned her attention to the Ponds. "What does it make you feel?"

"Feel?" Rory wondered.

"Every sentient being in the universe who detected that signal felt something. Something overpowering."

Nausea churned in Amy's stomach, and for the first time, she wondered if the panic she'd been battling back was actually something else. "Dread?" she ventured. "I feel dread."

"Fear," Tasha acknowledged with a nod. "Pure, unadulterated dread."

"Terrific." Rory sank onto the altar bed and took a long pull of his drink.

"But, what's the signal?" the Doctor asked. "Where's it coming from?"

"It's a settlement. Human colony, level 2. A farm, basically." Tasha moved to a wall screen and keyed up data.

"Has anyone had a proper look at it?" The Doctor began reading the data over Tasha's shoulder.

"Any one ship lands, the rest will follow, there will be bloodshed. Fortunately we got here first, shielded the planet. We maintain the truce, by blocking all of them."

"But, it's got to be a distress signal," Rory said.

"Right, and you really want the Daleks to be the one to go help these people?" Amy nudged his side.

"Well, no, of course not."

"There's the key there," the Doctor said. "Any one of those ships could break through these defenses you've got on the planet."

"Perhaps," Tasha agreed. "But, they're afraid, remember? No one wants to go first."

"I do!"

Tasha smirked. "I was counting on it." She moved to a square-shaped object that reminded Amy of the confessional booths she'd seen at the Catholic cathedrals she visited during a trip to Italy. "This is my personal teleport. I can put the three of you down just outside the town. Find the source of the message and report back to me in one hour. And on your life, Doctor, you will cause no trouble there."

"When do I?" The Doctor sauntered to the confessional booth, yanked the curtain open, and whirled around just as Amy and Rory opened their mouths. "Don't answer that. Come along, Ponds!"

* * *

They picked their way through the snow toward the little town Tasha's teleport had deposited them near. Amy shivered, finally agreeing that Rory had the right of it when it came to clothes. She rubbed her arms as she tripped over something. She landed face-first in the snow, and if it had been cold before, it was freezing now.

"Amy!" Rory knelt and helped her up. "Are you OK?"

"Yeah, just tripped over something. Got my ankle." Amy started to pull her foot, then looked down in horror as stone fingers curled around her slim ankle. "That's not … Doctor!"

"Weeping Angels!" The Doctor was at their side instantly. "Don't look! Don't blink! They must have got past Tasha's shield."

"I know what they are!" Amy snapped, her voice skating up several octaves.

"I don't!"

"Statues that aren't statues but are aliens," Amy hastily explained to Rory. "River and I were with the Doctor when I saw them last. They nearly got me too. Probably shouldn't have said it. River saved us. Well, the Doctor helped."

The Doctor rolled his eyes. "Just pull hard!"

He and Rory tugged on Amy, and all three of them fell back, tumbling down the slope in a heap. As Amy's world snapped back into focus, she saw the ring of statues surrounding them. The panic that she barely managed to keep at bay on the Papal Mainframe ship doubled, and she found herself reaching for Rory.

"Keep looking," the Doctor ordered. "Amy, where's your TARDIS key?"

Eyes locked on an Angel, Amy pressed her back to Rory's. "We're naked, remember? You made us take those pills!"

"But, you still have your clothes on under the hologram. It only looks like you're naked. You still have everything on beneath, including your jewelry."

"Where's yours?"

"I really _am_ naked! Mine's the reverse. Clothing hologram atop nakedness."

"Oh, for Pete's sake." Amy dug beneath her jumper and pulled out the chain she kept the TARDIS key on. She pulled it over her head and thrust it out to her left. The Doctor backed up a few paces, then took the key from her. It began to glow. Seconds later, the Angels disappeared as the TARDIS materialized around them, Handles chirping away on the console. Amy and Rory sagged against the console in relief.

"Excellent!" The Doctor tossed the key back to Amy. "The TARDIS was able to home in on the key, ergo coming through the shield to us. Surprised Tasha didn't think to search us for a key. Anyhow, I'm setting us right near the source. Engines on silent, don't want to make a fuss."

"You mean like when we invaded Nixon's office," Rory asked.

"But first," Amy said, pointing to the stairs. "Go and put on some proper clothes!"

They found themselves in what Amy could best describe as a picture-perfect slice of Victoriana mixed with bits of electricity. "A bit steampunk," she observed. "Dickens crossed with Thomas Edison."

The Doctor slowly turned in a circle, sonic scanning the area. "It's about two in the afternoon. Or what we would think as two. Very short days here. The message is coming from there." He indicated a clock tower in the middle of the town square. "Right, now, cover story. We're siblings from the next town here to see our grandmother. My name's Hank or Rock, something like that."

"Or Moll."

"Amelia!"

Amy giggled as the Doctor ignored her. He approached a couple that was strolling arm and arm through the town square. "Hello! Good to meet you! Nice snow!"

"Most pleasant to meet you," the man said, taking the Doctor's hand. "Most pleasant," his wife echoed.

"I'm the Doctor," the Doctor introduced himself. "I'm a Time Lord from the planet Gallifrey, I stole a time machine and I ran away, and I've been flaunting the principle law of my own people ever since!" He gulped and slapped his hand over his mouth. "That wasn't quite what I meant to say," he said through his hand.

Amy smiled, determined to properly explain the issue. "I'm Amy Pond from the planet Earth, and I can't seem to decide what career I want to settle on! I met a man from space when I was a child and ran off with him the night before I got married and tried to seduce him, then later found out he's actually my son-in-law!" She slapped her own hand over her mouth.

Rory gaped at her. "And I'm her husband, Rory, and I have a massive inferiority complex when it comes to my wife's relationship with said son-in-law and part of me still thinks he's more in love with my wife than with our daughter, whom I have yet to fully accept as such." He grit his teeth together and turned away as the Doctor and Amy's eyes widened with shock.

"I think," the woman gently counseled, "perhaps you should stop talking till you get used to it."

"Used to what?" Rory asked behind his hand.

"What did you say your name was?"

Amy slowly lifted her hand. "Bossy, stubborn personality masking abandonment issues!" She slapped her hand over her mouth once more.

"Ah, I see," the Doctor said from behind the safety of his own hand. "Yes, of course! It's a truth field, Ponds! Oh, that is so quaint! I haven't seen a truth field in years!"

"No one can lie in this town, especially this close to the tower," the man explained.

"Doesn't that make life a bit difficult?" the Doctor asked.

"Yes," the man replied at the same time the woman chirped, "Not at all!"

"So, what's this town called?"

"It's Christmas," the man said.

"No." The Doctor glanced at his watch. "It's July."

"So much for the turkey," Amy muttered.

"No, dear boy. The town." The woman indicated the buildings. "It's called Christmas. Be happy here."

Rory hesitantly lifted his hand as the couple continued their stroll. "How can a town be called Christmas?"

"I don't know. How can an island be called Easter? I almost hate to find out what's wrong." The Doctor pulled out his sonic again. "Ah, there we go. In the church."

"Just a second." Amy snagged the Doctor's arm. She pinned Rory in place with the force of her stare. "Since we happen to be standing in a convenient truth field, perhaps Mr. Williams, you would like to explain that little statement of yours?"

"I really should go check out the church," the Doctor said, trying to tug his arm away.

"No. No, we are having this out right now." Amy pointed to a nearby bench. "Sit. Both of you. No running away. Remember who was the only one smart enough to bring her TARDIS key."

"Well, I have mine now! I'm grabbing Handles, then I'll be in church!" The Doctor ran away before Amy could protest.

She turned her rage on Rory. "Sit. _Now_."

Rory sat.

Amy loomed over him, arms crossed over her chest. "Do you really think after all these years that the Doctor loves me more than River?"

"You love the Doctor."

"Of course I do! And yes, I fancied him once, years ago. But we're in a truth field, so surely I'm telling the truth when I say I love you far more than I could ever love him. I can't love him in the way that River does, and looking at it now, I don't want to. I don't think I can. But I do love him, Rory, and so do you."

"Of course I do," Rory snapped back. "But you ran away with him the night before our wedding. You _snogged_ him."

"I was 21 years old!" Amy yelled. "I was _stupid!_ Shall we spend the next hour recounting all the moronic things you did in your early 20s? I swear, Mels … River and I were going to frame all those speeding tickets you got."

"It's not the same as _snogging the man you ran away before our wedding with_," Rory yelled back, ignoring the stares they received from curious onlookers. "It's bad enough that our child that I got to hold for barely five minutes was taken from us and replaced by our friend Mels, who then regenerated into this universal legend. But every time I see him with River, I wonder if he settled for her because he couldn't have you!"

Amy's slap echoed through the town square. "That," she hissed, "is for her." Livid, she pivoted and stalked to the church, not caring if Rory followed. She dashed away angry tears as she stepped into the old building. The question she'd been about to ask the Doctor died on her tongue as she noticed him inspecting a very familiar object on the back wall.

"That's the crack," she murmured, moving to his side. "That's the crack in my wall. Why is it here, Doctor?"

"I always knew it wasn't over." The Doctor lightly danced his fingers over the crack the same way Amy had seen him do so many years ago. "A slice of your wedding day. 26 June 2010. This is the scar tissue that remained after I rebooted the universe. A structural weakness the universe." He tapped it. "And someone's trying to get through. That's the message."

"Sorry?"

"Yes. If you tried to break through a wall, you'd choose the weakest spot. To break into this universe, you'd choose this crack, because... No. If you were trying to break back into this universe." He abruptly straightened. "He said Gallifrey. Handles." He strode past Amy to where he left Handles sitting on a desk. "Why did you say Gallifrey?"

"Analysis of message composition indicates Gallifreyan origin, according to TARDIS data banks," Handles replied.

"You said, after we met your other selves," Amy said as Rory walked into the church, shoulders hunched, "that there was a chance your plan worked. The Time Lords could be in another universe?"

"Yes! And my guess is that both the message and the truth field are coming through here. If it's the Time Lords …"

As the message began to resonate once more, the Doctor rummaged through his pockets and pulled out a small object. He affixed it to Handles and pointed the head toward the crack. "Seal of the High Council of Gallifrey, nicked it off the Master in the Death Zone. There is an algorithm imprinted in the atomic structure. Use it to decode the message."

"Message decoding. Message analysis proceeding," Handles said. As he clicked and whirled away, the Doctor stared hard at the crack. Amy hugged herself, fighting every impulse to walk to Rory. It was like the Dalek asylum all over again, when they could barely stand to be next to each other, but so aware at the same time. "Message decoding. Message analysis proceeding."

"You would think it would just say it's a question," Rory observed.

"It is being projected through all of time and space on a repeating cycle," Handles said, blissfully oblivious.

The Doctor's face went pale. "The oldest question in the universe, hidden in plain sight ..."

Amy's hand flew to her mouth once more as she gasped, and everything clicked into place. "Doctor, are we on-"

"Warning: translation will be available to all lifeforms in range. Translation follows. _Doctor who ... Doctor who ... Doctor who ... Doctor who ... Doctor who ..._"

Paling, Amy forced her gaze to the ceiling, felt the words reverberate around her. They were being heard on every part of the planet and beyond, and something about that made her want to retch. Instead, she stood straighter than ever, hands fisting by her side.

"A question only I could answer. A truth field to make sure I'm not lying. If I give my name, they'll know they've found the right place, and that it's safe to come through." Hands shaking, the Doctor rooted through his pocket once more. Fingers closing around a cylinder, he swallowed and pulled it out. He pressed it into Amy's hands. "Amy, you and Rory need to take this back to the TARDIS. Put it in the charger for the sonic."

"What? No, I'm not leaving you!"

"You've got to. Please. I need your help, Amelia." He gently took her by her upper arms. "All hell will break loose if the Time Lords come back. There's half a universe up there already, waiting to open fire. Now, please, go to the TARDIS, and just do as I say!"

"Go on, Amy," Rory urged. "You'll be right back."

"Rory-"

"I'll stay with him," he said, quietly cutting her off.

Against her better judgment, Amy nodded and rushed out of the church.

"Go with her Rory," the Doctor said as Tasha Lem's voice began echoing through the town, demanding that the Doctor show himself. "It's about to get very nasty here, and she shouldn't be alone. You need to watch over her."

Rory hesitated, then nodded. He wondered if Amy had figured it out yet. He knew the Doctor's impulse. It was the same one he had himself. He would do whatever it took to keep Amy safe. He wouldn't ask, because he knew he wouldn't be able to lie to Amy when the moment came. "Take care. Be safe, or she'll have your head."

"Likewise. And, Rory?"

He was halfway out of the room before the Doctor called him back. "Yeah?"

"The truth field extends in here."

"I figured it encompasses the whole town."

"That it does. Not only that, but in a little town like this, you can hear someone yelling no matter where you are." The Doctor's gaze was steady as his eyes met Rory's. "I didn't settle."

Knowing it would be the closest the Time Lord would ever come to acknowledging the depth of his feelings for his daughter – at least to his face – Rory nodded and followed Amy to the TARDIS.

Amy put the cylinder in the slot just as Rory walked in the console room. "That took longer than I thought," she said as he softly closed the door. The cylinder began clicking away in much the same way Handles did. "Wonder if it's downloading some sort of data on the Time Lords." She drummed her fingers on the console and wondered how to approach the rest of the argument. Would they bother discussing it now or bury it like they buried so many issues between them? Did the truth field extend into the TARDIS? God, she hoped not.

"I'm sorry," Rory said softly.

She closed her eyes. All right, then. "Do you really hate our daughter that much?"

"I don't hate her at all. But, it feels like I still barely know her."

"It's _Mels_. She's the one who stole those trousers for you when you split the seam on the handlebars in grade 3."

"I know." Rory dropped wearily onto the jump seat. "I know she's Mels, and I know she's River. But, I didn't have the adventures with her that you did, Amy. She pops by often enough, but I look at her and still see just a friend, not our flesh and blood. You got a chance to actually bond with her. You can look at River and still see our baby. I can't. It's been five years, and I'm still trying to wrap my mind around it because I know she's the only biological child we'll ever have." He laughed a bit bitterly. "But, hell, how much of her is still biologically ours after all they did to her?"

"All," Amy replied. She pushed off the console to face him. "Rory, she's ours. And the Doctor loves her."

"I know." For the first time, Amy's eyes met his and she saw the pain he always buried when it came to the loss of their daughter. "I know," he repeated.

Before she could ask him to clarify, the clicking ceased. "Done," Amy announced and took the cylinder. "Let's go."

She and Rory stepped outside the TARDIS. It took Amy a moment for her senses to realign and realize they were right back where they started – in the park across the street from their home. Rory's convertible and her parents' tiny car were parked in front, and she heard the faint strains of Christmas music. Horrified, she whipped around as the TARDIS began to dematerialize. She tugged at the door, but it didn't budge.

"No!" Amy beat on the TARDIS door as it faded away. She took a couple staggering steps back, nearly knocking Rory over. She whipped around, hair flying as she grabbed Rory's arms. "We can't just leave him there!" She pushed him aside as she raced out of the park, across the street, and into the house.

"Amelia!" Tabetha walked out of the lounge as Amy took the stairs two at a time. "Where have you been, you've been gone for 45 minutes! And where's the turkey?"

"Ah, still roasting," Rory hastily explained as he dashed in the front door. "We um … borrowed an oven. Sorry, forgot something in the bedroom."

Amy ran into the bedroom and immediately dropped to her knees. She crawled under the bed and felt along the underside of the mattress. Her fingers closed around something hard, and she yanked. It took a couple tries before it gave way, and she pulled out a flip phone from a decade earlier. It was only for dire universe-ending emergencies, and if this didn't qualify, then nothing did. She unfolded it, the number automatically dialing as it powered on.

"25 December 2016, London. Time is," she craned her neck to look at the nightstand, "3:47 p.m. The Doctor's in trouble. We need you." She snapped out the mobile shut and before she could get to her feet, a cloud of smoke appeared in the corner, coalescing into the shape of her only child.

"What's happened?" River asked.


	2. Chapter 2

The Kgratin were known as the hoarders of Canes Venatici, a galaxy known from the outside for its whirlpool-like appearance and on the inside from having the most interesting gravity. Every planet had its gravity tweaked just enough that what was considered normal for the Kgratin meant that River Song was standing on her head. Literally.

She hated the helmet she had to wear. Her hair barely fit, and it tugged at her scalp in a not-so-pleasant manner. The Kgratin had natural suction cups that enabled them to pull off the maneuver with no sweat. Not so for wayward humanoids. The headache brewing behind River's temples promised to be vicious, and her legs ached from suspending them above her head for more than an hour. Regardless of this, she smiled her very best at the Kgratin suctioned across from her, a small triangle of a table separating them.

"Very well then," River said in fluent Kgratinese. "We have observed the formalities of our exchange, and I have made you an offering from my native culture." She indicated the small bag of jelly babies hanging in the middle of the table. "Now, you said you had something of interest to show me. You do not allow outsiders in here easily."

"You are River Song," the Kgratin hissed at her. "Your name is spoken from all the corners of this planet, at the hearth of every household."

"Oh, really?" River considered this. Well, at least the Kgratin wasn't threatening her with a weapon. Yet. It was her first trip to Kgrat, so clearly it was something she did in her future. "Well, I'll have to remember that for a later date. Time travel, you see. Ever so messy. I have a feeling I'm a bit earlier in my timeline than you want."

"You are associated with the Warrior of Hours."

Warrior of Hours. _Time Lord_. Oh, Doctor, River mentally sighed. _What have you done now?_

"A recording," the Kgratin said and produced a flat metal disc. He placed it in a recessed spot on the table and pressed a finger into it. The other Kgratin gathered in the night club quieted as a mechanical voice filled the air.

_"Doctor who ... Doctor who ... Doctor who ... Doctor who ... Doctor who ..."_

Her scanner vibrated in her handbag, and River slipped her fingers inside to run over it as her heartbeat doubled at the repeated question. She discretely took it out and flicked what appeared to be a dismissive glance at the readout on the monitor.

_25 December 2016, London. Time is 3:47 p.m. The Doctor's in trouble. We need you._

Although her smile remained wide and flirty, River's stomach suddenly threatened to rebel. Amy and Rory. They were the only ones who had access to this particular frequency, and it was different from the normal one they used to contact her. It was set up for emergencies, and River knew her parents. While the Doctor considered the mere thought of boredom to be the equivalent of a Category 4 hurricane, Amy and Rory took it far more seriously.

"Well, as much as I would like to stay, I really must get to another appointment." Years of well-honed training kept her movements smooth and fluid as River tucked her scanner away and swept beneath her skirts for the blaster she had strapped to her thigh. She drew it fluidly, aimed it at the Kgratin's head. "Now, then I think we can negotiate for ownership of that disc."

Fifteen minutes later, and blissfully helmet-free, River used her vortex manipulator to follow the scanner signal back to its origin. She appeared in her parents' bedroom, Amy and Rory clustered together near the door looking drawn and pale.

"What happened?" she demanded as she made a quick sweep of the bedroom, blaster in hand. A quick out the window revealed the Ponds' car just behind Rory's convertible, but nothing out of the ordinary. "Where's the Doctor?"

"I think he's on Trenzalore," Amy replied. "Please tell me you've done it. I know we haven't compared diaries. Have you been there?"

River's hearts plummeted, and she nearly dropped her blaster. "No, that's not possible. He can't be there."

"But have you-"

"Yes, Mother. What happened?"

Amy hastily explained the past few hours with the Doctor, about the turkey and the spaceship and the cloaked planet. "It was when that message started playing that I realized where we were. He didn't say it, no one did. But it had to be Trenzalore. You knew he was also meant to go back there."

"But not now. Not this soon." River thought about the disc she'd taken from the Kgratin. She wasn't ready. Oh God, she wasn't ready to entertain the possibility of losing him. She didn't think this moment would come for decades upon decades. Instead, it'd come just a few years after she and her parents had wound up on Trenzalore for the first time, fighting the Great Intelligence in the tomb that the TARDIS had become. "Mother, you know what this means."

"It means we've got to get to him right away," Amy replied.

"Let's go." River pushed past her parents, running down the stairs with Amy at her heels. Tabetha Pond chose that moment to walk out of the kitchen with a bowl of mashed potatoes.

She leaped back, nearly losing her grip as River sped by her and out the front door. "Good lord, who was that?"

"Rory, you explain it!" Amy called over her shoulder as Augustus wandered out of the lounge.

"Right." Resigned, Rory faced his in-laws. He clapped his hands. "Well. You remember Amy's imaginary friend from the wedding? Well, we've been traveling in time and space with him off and on for the past six years. That woman is our daughter who was born on an asteroid thousands of years in the future, but for everyone's sake, let's just say March 2011. She was kidnapped, brainwashed, regenerated a couple times, and you all knew her as Mels. She married Amy's imaginary friend, and now he is our son-in-law. So Amy called our daughter, whose name is River, to help find our imaginary friend, the Doctor, because he's in a lot of trouble. Any questions?"

Tabetha and Augustus exchanged a questioning glance. "Well, if you really don't want to tell us, you shouldn't just lie about it," Tabetha finally said. "I think they're reuniting the _Downton_ cast this year for a Christmas special, shall I put it on the telly while we wait for you to sort out the turkey?"

"But … but, I didn't lie," Rory said weakly as they filed into the lounge, and Augustus flipped the TV on. He shook his head and followed Amy and River outside.

"All we know is that the town's called Christmas, but they wanted the same thing that the Great Intelligence did," Amy was explaining as they reached the place where the TARDIS had been parked. "They want to know his name."

"The oldest question in the universe. Yes, I heard it. A distant planet had recorded the message shortly before you contacted me." River took out her scanner and slowly ran it over the area, hoping to pick up residual energy from the TARDIS. "And if you said there's Weeping Angels there, then clearly things are getting through the Papal Mainframe's shields."

"That's the other thing."

Amy lapsed into silence, and River glanced up to see her mother worrying her lip. "What is it?"

"That ship we were on. The Papal Mainframe. It looked just like Demon's Run. All those clerics and Tasha Lem. She reminded me so much of Kovarian in a way. I didn't like her," she admitted. "Not just because she was all familiar with the Doctor and was trying to get him alone with her altar-bed. It felt like I was walking back into my biggest nightmare."

"Oh, Amy," Rory said, rubbing her back.

"The Papal Mainframe _is_ the Church," River gently explained. "You weren't wrong, Amy. Oh, but it all makes sense now."

She waved them to a nearby bench and sat next to Amy. "All of this was drilled into my head growing up, but they kept wiping my memories. Enough was retained though that I did research on it in university and again for my own curiosity not long after I was imprisoned. After all, the Church is one of the overseers of Stormcage. I know you want me to go for the Doctor right away, and I will. But, you need a history lesson first, to understand why the Doctor sent you home."

"You know why he did it?" Rory asked.

"He's the Doctor. His motives are ever so transparent." A ghost of a smile flickered for a moment. "A couple centuries before the Battle of Demon's Run, there was a divide in the Church of the Papal Mainframe. An unscheduled faith change had taken place, ordered by Tasha Lem. The Church became solely dedicated to the cause of the Silence. The Doctor would not speak his name, and war would be averted."

"But, he did say his name," Amy pointed out. "He told you, and the tomb opened."

"That's because when we were on Trenzalore the first time, it was long after the events of this particular war."

"So, he's got to say it again?"

"I don't know," River admitted to Rory. "You said there's a truth field coming out of the crack. Say it in the right way and he'd have no choice. But the Doctor is stubborn and strong. He'd resist it as much as possible."

"How did Kovarian figure into all of this?" Amy asked.

"Kovarian's goal was to keep the Doctor from ever reaching Trenzalore in the first place. We all know now how _that_ turned out. She was a part of the segment of the Church that was displeased with Tasha Lem, who wanted to go about this another way. But they never went into great detail, and I figured it was because in the end, I was still too close to you two when I was growing up as Mels. When I was taken the second time, the Church was fully aware of my relationship with the Doctor. I was told if the war came, it would be the war to end all wars. I thought after the Great Intelligence that it was the consequences of the Doctor's timeline being invaded. But, it's not that." She dragged in a deep breath. "It's the Time Lords. They're trying to prevent a resumption of the Last Great Time War."

The scanner in River's hands beeped, and she pulled herself out of the swirl of thoughts and history and all those suppositions that had been right and wrong at the same time. "There, I've got a trace of where the Old Girl has gone. It's faint, but it's enough for this to work." She pulled out the Kgratin disc and pushed it into a slot on the side of her scanner. "Those traces plus tracing the origin of this should … and there it is. Point zero." She tucked her scanner away and got to her feet, keying in data on her vortex manipulator. "It'll be the space travel version of threading the needle, but I can get through the cracks. I'll find him, Amy."

Amy followed and quickly hugged her. "When you do, give him a right smack for me, would you?"

River grinned and winked at her.

Rory clapped her shoulder. "Be careful."

"You should be telling that one to the Doctor." She hugged Rory. He hesitated a moment, then returned the hug. Puzzled, she pulled back, but he gave her a comforting smile and patted her shoulder. "We'll be back before you know it." She finished the sequence, said a small prayer that her bluff would actually hold, and pressed the button.

She emerged at the very edge of a town square, outside a dilapidated church and a party in full swing. A huge bonfire roared a few feet away, bits of Cybermen and other mechanical alien parts poking out of the flames. It was an eerie mix of Mardi Gras and the end of a very long battle campaign. She glanced around, seeking out the TARDIS, and frowned when she didn't notice it.

At the edge of the crowd, a little boy suddenly pointed in her direction. A figure hunched over the boy straightened, unfolded into a very familiar floppy-haired man. She had to swallow past the sudden wave of relief and love as he abruptly jerked straight and started the walk toward her. He leaned heavily on a cane and slowly waved off the children that started to follow him. The relief turned to worry. Amy hadn't said anything about the Doctor being injured.

"Just what the _hell_ are you doing here?" he demanded, stalking up to her.

It took her a moment to process it. The Doctor was much older than she'd ever seen him. There were deep lines in that long face of his, and the scattering of grey hair she'd teased him about on her last visit with him had grown. Relief and worry skidded to anger. "You tricked my parents! What did you think they were going to do, sit down to Christmas dinner?"

"I saved them!" he shot back.

"You didn't even tell them good-bye!" River yelled, clenching her fists in an effort to keep from slapping him. "And what were you going to tell me, Doctor? How was I ever going to find out that you were stuck here? In the pages of a bloody history book? You tricked them, Doctor, of course they were going to send me after you!"

He snarled. "Ponds! All you Ponds! I'm furious with the lot of you!"

She tossed her hands in the air. "Fine then! You just sit there and throw your temper tantrum like the 6-year-old you are!"

"I am at least 1,306, thank you, River Song!" He jabbed his cane at her before tossing it aside and lunging for her. She met him halfway as he flung his arms around her. Her lips found his, and they kissed desperately as they stumbled in the snow, struggling to maintain their footing. When they broke apart, he pressed his forehead to hers.

"Oh, what have you done, my love?" she murmured. "Besides forget an appointment to get your hair colored?"

"There's nothing wrong with my hair," he sniffed.

"There's at least eight … no 80 grey hairs now." She kissed his forehead, and his lips found hers again. This time, the kiss was slow and languid, a simple exchange of complex feelings that not even Time Lords could quite verbalize. When he lifted his mouth from hers, she felt perilously close to tears. He was older than she'd ever seen him, and something about that made her stomach pitch with dread. So when he offered her his arm, she took it and leaned into him as they slowly made their way toward Christmas.

"So, is Amy's turkey done?" River asked conversationally as he led her toward the church where he'd taken up residence.

"Probably. TARDIS isn't back yet." The Doctor's brow furrowed as they lingered at the base of the stairs, his gaze desperately searching the night sky. "She left about a hundred years ago when I sent your parents off."

"A hundred years?" River swallowed past the lump in her throat. "She can't get through the shields?"

"She'll find a way," he replied confidently, and she agreed with him. "Probably leaping about a bit to find the right hole. Needs a bigger one than your vortex manipulator. That's all right. I'll wait for her. Come upstairs with me, River. It's about dawn. Light here only lasts a few minutes."

He led her up a long, crooked staircase. She drew up short as she passed through what he'd turned into his living quarters. Hundreds upon hundreds of drawings were tacked on every available surface. When he'd run out of wall space, he merely layered old drawings atop the new. She recognized the enemies the Doctor had fought over the years. Vibrant red crayon and curls done with shades of gold were stuck on stick figures that represented Amy and River. Others were meant to be Rory. A fire lay in a small grate along one arm.

"So what exactly happened?" River asked softly.

"Classic standoff. They can't attack in case I unleash the Time Lords, and I can't run away, because they'll burn this planet to stop the Time Lords. Hey, after all these years, I've finally found somewhere that needs me to stick around. A town called Christmas. Could've been worse." He adjusted one of the drawings. "That other time, River, when you leaped into my timeline after me, it took place after this. So, that means you can't say my name either. You have to leave me here."

She harrumphed and pushed past him, surveying the room with her hands on her hips. "Single cot. Well, that'll need a change. I'm sure there's a proper bed around here somewhere."

"Are you even paying attention to me?"

"I'm afraid not," River said cheerfully. "You see, sweetie, you married a Pond. We happen to excel in the waiting department."

"There's nothing to wait for! You know as well as I do this is it. The very last of me."

She froze. "What makes you say that?"

The Doctor exchanged leaning on his case for leaning against the wall. "I've known ever since I regenerated. Oh, sure, dismissed it out of hand. New body, felt great."

"But Berlin. I gave you my lives, willingly."

"But, you lacked control," he corrected her gently. He absently picked up a toy and poked at the wheel. "You brought me back to life, healed me from the poison. You even extended this life far beyond what it should be, because your energy is running through my veins along with mine. But you lacked the precision to turn that energy into extra lives. Don't look at me like that, River. You didn't know. You were blameless."

"The hell I was," River shot furiously at him and turned away to gain control over her emotions. She bit her lip and ordered herself not to cry. "And what about the crack in time that the Time Lords are trying to reach you through. It goes both ways. Have you attempted to talk with them?" Her eyebrow arched when he didn't respond, instead turned his attention to the toy in his hand. "Doctor," she said through gritted teeth.

"I'm not exactly their most favorite person in the universe, I'll remind you."

"They wouldn't even exist if not for you." She took the toy and grabbed his hands before he could lunge for it. "The absolute worst they can do is tell you no, then we're no worse off than we are right now." She trailed a thumb over his cheek. "One hundred years. Why didn't you send for me?"

"One hundred Earth years, or as close as I can tell. Planet this far out, we've not even done a full revolution around the sun." The Doctor grabbed his cane and pushed to his feet. "Come on, my dear, I want to show you the sunrise."

She started to slip an arm around his waist, and he waved her off. "I can manage," he growled.

"Indulge me. I have a yen to embrace you." This time, he let her, and she didn't say anything when he leaned a bit heavily on her. "You know, no one can say I look a couple decades older than you now."

"Ha!" The Doctor jabbed his cane at the air. "You just liked being known as a cougar, River Song."

"It was ever so worth it just to see you blush."

As the brief light passed over the town, the Doctor sighed. "How mad is she at me? Amy?"

"More worried than anything when I left. I'm sure she's worked her way over to the mad by now. She never did explain, why did she have a turkey on the TARDIS?"

"Oh, yes. Decided to use the TARDIS as an emergency turkey roaster. Might be done anytime now. Do you have any idea how to make turkey edible?"

"My love, I'm quite sure that will forever remain one of the unknown mysteries of the universe."

As the sun spread over the horizon, she moved into his side a little more and decided to try again. "Why did you send Amy and Rory away? Why didn't you send for me?"

"Because if I hadn't, I'd have buried them a long time ago. You too, most likely. I can't do it, River. I can't stand over your parents' graves. Not when I already stood over your-" He cut himself off, squeezed her tightly. "Truth field. Dangerous thing. No. No, I just can't."

"Really, Doctor, you're underestimating the three of us. I'm disappointed in you." She gripped his hands and shuffled until she filled his vision, doing her very best to ignore that he was trying in vain to say he had stood over her grave. And not just a decoy one. The sun lit her hair like a halo. "What's the real reason? You're not just wanting to protect my parents."

He shook his head. "And this is why I didn't send for you." He bopped her nose. "You always know."

"You're dying right now, aren't you?"

"I'm an old man now, dear. You know what that means when I'm out of regenerations. To most of the universe, this is the eleventh incarnation of me. But you remember the man you saw in my time stream? Can't forget Captain Grumpy. I didn't call myself the Doctor during the Time War, but it was still a regeneration. And, well, number 10 once regenerated and kept the same face. I had vanity issues at the time. You saw the future as well as I did, River. All those graves, and one of them mine."

"And, one of them was mine. Doctor, I'm supposed to be here with you. You can't protect this town on your own forever. It'll end the same way, whatever you do."

"Every life I save is a victory. Every single one, right down to sending your parents home." He started back inside as the sun crested and began to set. He took two shuffling steps with his cane, then leaned heavily on it. "You'll stay? You'll really stay?"

"Did you honestly think I would leave you at a time like this?"

"What, no rocks to uncover? No history to mangle?" He chucked as River rolled her eyes. "Come along! I'll get you familiar with the layout."

* * *

The day it all ended started beautifully.

River woke in stages. There was the soft light of the limited daylight pressing against the back of her eyelids. Cool, sweet air wafted in the open windows, stirring the blankets. She heard a rustle next to her, the press of a warm body against hers. She instinctively turned into the arms that wrapped around her and arched her neck when cool lips pressed to the double pulse beating in her throat.

"You are randy this morning," she murmured. She cracked open one eye, and her hearts turned over, one by one, as she stared into the eyes of the Doctor. They were warm and kind, and despite the persistent attacks on the shield surrounding Trenzalore, far more peaceful than she'd ever seen. He was in a place that needed and wanted him, embraced who he was. She didn't think she'd ever see him content to be in one place. She didn't think she would be happy herself. But there was something about Trenzalore, Christmas especially, that domesticated the wild wanderlust in both of them.

Or maybe we're just getting old, she absently thought as she kissed him. Old and settled. Both of them on their final regenerations. As much as it hurt her to know that this was the last of the Doctor, knowing that neither of them would be forced to go on long without the other was a comfort. Younger versions of them would visit her parents, and River would find some way to get word back to them. Time flowed differently here, far faster than it did on Earth. It had a way of melding together into a languorous flow of worry and wonder.

Despite his age, despite having one of his legs go lame, the Doctor was surprisingly agile when it came to certain activities. She wasn't going to complain one bit. She rolled him onto his back, hands skimming over his ribcage and lower. They were both naked, still a bit sleepy, affectionate and wanting. As she moved over him, sunlight shimmered in her curls. His breath caught, his fingers dug into her waist, and it was a perfect moment of beauty in the middle of a tiresome war.

The light was already dimming when they lay sated next to each other. "You are growing increasingly affectionate in your dotage," River mused. "Not to mention you're actually sleeping every night."

"We agreed not to talk about that," the Doctor muttered petulantly.

She smirked and ruffled his hair. "How many grey hairs are we up to?"

"Not even getting started." He pushed into a sitting position. "You've been here 200 years, River Song, and not a single grey hair. Where are you getting the dye?"

"A girl doesn't share her secrets." She kissed his cheek and got up to search for a washrag, then clean clothes.

"Come on, River, please?"

"Absolutely not," River chanted in a sing-song voice. She rolled her shoulders and considered her yoga exercises. They were doing wonders in keeping her limber. She had encouraged the Doctor to try, but he lacked the patience to get through even a single sun salutation. She faced the crack in the wall opposite them, let the repeated hum of the Doctor's name being asked roll over her. They had been careful, very careful, not to use his real name when they were intimate. There had been a few close calls, but River prided herself on her self control in all situations. As for the Doctor … well … there was little a gag couldn't solve.

The sun was already setting by the time River went through a couple of sun salutations, habit winning over the desire to laze about. She was in the middle of locating clothes to wear when she felt the air change. The hair on the back of her arms rose, and for the first time in decades, a wild restlessness she had pushed into the recesses of her mind stilled. She spun just as the Doctor emerged from the cocoon of blankets that made of their bed, hair sticking about every whichway.

"The TARDIS!" he yelped "The old girl's back!"

He shoved all the blankets aside, grabbing his cane as he pushed to his feet. He shuffled toward the stairs.

"Awfully cold out there without clothes," River said to his departing back. "You're not going to church."

"Probably will be today!"

"Well, at least project them for the sake of the children." Securing her gun belt around her waist, River followed.

"They're fine," the Doctor scoffed.

"Oh?" She waved his sonic under his nose. "Without a dose of this? You're too old to go to church naked."

"I'll find clothes in the TARDIS." The Doctor grabbed River's arm and took two steps into the snow. He gasped, hugged himself. "When did it get so _cold_?"

"Need I remind you the effects of aging on humanoids? Including recalcitrant Time Lords." Deftly, she steered the Doctor back toward the stairs so he could put on clothes.

Minutes later, they stood in the TARDIS console room, letting their neglected time senses drink in the Old Girl. She smelled of the vortex and faintly of overcooked turkey. The Doctor patted the console fondly while River inspected scratches near the door.

"She had a beast of a time getting through that," she observed, absently wiping at the doorway with a rag. "Could use a good paint. Does the light bulb need changing?"

"I just changed it," the Doctor huffed.

"Three hundred years ago."

"Well, they're 700-year light bulbs." He pulled the monitor down, adjusted it. "Ah, look who's woken up, dear."

River abandoned the rag to take a look for herself. A hologram was projected into the dark sky, solidifying into the angular face of Tasha Lem.

"Hello, Tasha!" The Doctor flicked a few controls and pulled out a small microphone. "Nice of you to drop by, it's been a few centuries. Tell me, how's the outside world? Did they find Elvis yet?"

"The Church of the Silence requests parlay. Your rights and safety are sanctified," Tasha replied, no humor in her voice. "I'll send a transporter."

"Don't bother. Got me motor back. Me and the missus will be straight up."

Tasha didn't flinch, but just enough of a flicker passed over her face to register shock. "Missus? You don't mean to tell me that woman got through?"

"Haven't found a locked planet that could keep you out yet, eh?" the Doctor winged an eyebrow at River.

"Afraid not. They're ever so resistible." River blew a kiss at Tasha's hologram and broke the connection as the Doctor inputted the coordinates for the Papal Mainframe. "_That woman?_ Sweetie, I think you've broken her heart."

"Well, she's always had a bit of a jealous streak."

In short order, River found herself in the same chamber her parents had visited years earlier. Any pretense of seduction was gone. Instead of a bed, a wide table took up the room. Maps and charts spread over it, along with plates of half-eaten meals. River found herself drifting to the table, inspecting one of the plates. She frowned, subtly turning the plate to have a better look at the contents.

"Why did you ever come to Trenzalore?" Tasha said by way of greeting, slamming a large box in front of the Doctor and ignoring River.

"Well, I did come to Trenzalore, and nothing can change that now." The Doctor dropped into the large, ornate chair that Tasha favored and neatly crossed his legs. "Three hundred years, and you haven't aged a day. What have you been doing with yourself while you were trying to stop me from getting here?"

"It wasn't me," Tasha spat. "The Kovarian chapter broke away."

River froze. She closed her eyes and tried her best to ignore the roar of her hearts in her ears. Her fingers twitched, her gun arm jerked slightly. She willed away the impulses that controlled her life for so long and turned toward the Doctor and Tasha.

"They traveled back along your timeline and tried to prevent you ever reaching Trenzalore."

"So that's who blew up my TARDIS," the Doctor mused. "I thought I'd left the bath running."

"They blew up your time capsule," Tasha confirmed. "And tried to blow up their flawed weapon along with it. They were wanting to use the combination of both to create very cracks in the universe through which the Time Lords are now calling."

"The destiny trap. You can't change history if you're part of it."

"They engineered a psychopath to kill you."

"Totally married her." Now the Doctor grinned, his voice boastful. "I'd never have made it here alive without River Song. Say hello, dear."

Tasha stiffened as River's blaster pressed into the small of her back. "Like I said," she murmured, "flawed weapon."

"No," River said calmly, voice cold. "My training was perfect. Shall you keep elaborating on all the ways your actions caused my life, and that of my parents, to be a living hell? Or are you going to tell us what happened here three days ago?"

"You're dead, aren't you, Tasha?" the Doctor slowly got to his feet. "You can smell it in the air. Old food. Blood. Waste. Death. No, not Cybermen. They'd never let you keep your body." He approached her, rubbed a thumb over her forehead. "Hello, Dalek."

A split formed in her forehead, and a Dalek eyestalk emerged. "Information concerning the Doctor was harvested from the cadaver of Tasha Lem," it intoned in its mechanical voice. The arrogance in the Doctor's eyes faded, replaced by a deep sorrow for a once friend.

"Sweetie, step away."

"River-"

"I'll take care of this." The Dalek swung about and River sent a blaster shot down its eyestalk. Tasha's corpse crumpled at her feet. Moving a bit slower than she'd like, River swooped down and disabled the eyestalk.

"The puppets are far more vulnerable, but we need to go." She steered the Doctor back to the TARDIS.

"She didn't tell them how to break through the Trenzalore force field," he said as River slammed the door behind them. "It's war now," he added as they walked to the console and began to run tests. "If the Daleks have taken over the Papal Mainframe, it's only a matter of time before the force field goes on its own. Look." He trailed a finger down the monitor. "Breaches in it already."

"What do we do, sweetie?"

Before the Doctor could answer, a bell rang.

"It's done," the Doctor said.

"What is?" River asked.

"Amy's turkey. Either that or it's woken up."

River laughed at the absurdity of it all. Turkey in the middle of all this. "Do you want some?"

"Go on then." He motioned River toward the stairs. "Under the stairs."

She shook her head fondly and kissed his cheek as she started by him. He caught her arm. He initiated the kiss this time, and she hummed with pleasure. She let herself enjoy him for a few precious seconds. She nipped his bottom lip and left him grinning after her.

"Amy and Rory will be cross that we ate their turkey without them," River said as she descended the stairs. She located the panel and rummaged about for oven mitts. She found the ones Amy left behind and slid them on. "We really need to visit them, take them another turkey. A proper turkey, not something you think would be an adequate replacement for one. For one, I'm ready to go some place where there's not an iota of snow."

She carefully carried the turkey up the stairs and found the console room empty. "Doctor?" River asked. She shrugged and glanced at the time rotor. "We're back now, so we need to formulate a plan about the force field while we eat." Something nagged at the back of her mind as she worked the door open while balancing the turkey pan. The door swung open to reveal the shocked faces of her parents. "Amy! Rory!"

"Where have you _been_?" Amy cried. "You're so much older! Where's the Doctor?"

"The turkey's done," Rory commented.

River shoved the pan in Rory's hands and raced back to the console. Fingers flying, she ran a search for humanoid life signs on the TARDIS. Three lights blinked on. Hers and her parents. With a vicious swear, she shoved the monitor away.

"River?" Amy asked.

"He's gone back." Hands curled into fists, she smacked the edge of the console in frustration before hastily inputting coordinates. "The Doctor's gone back. He went back to Trenzalore."

"Why?" Amy and Rory shouted at once.

"He's dying. For real this time. I'm telling you the truth, I swear it. This is not like Lake Silencio. No spoilers. No secrets. He's dying, and he shouldn't die alone. He needs us."


	3. Chapter 3

"So … um … what do I do with the turkey?"

Rory's quiet voice cut through the impotent rage and worry in River's mind, and for the first time, she realized she'd been staring at the time rotor ever since she informed her parents they were going back to Trenzalore. She wasn't as good as the Doctor when it came to measuring time and reading timelines. But despite the Dalek takeover of the Papal Mainframe, it would take some time for the TARDIS to break through the shield surrounding Trenzalore once more. From the Doctor's perspective, they might only be gone minutes. Or hours. Worse, it'd be years and they'd find the planet as they had so many years ago – nothing but graves. With one exception. His dead body would be among them, waiting for her to turn the TARDIS into his tomb. She wanted to weep. So she took a deep breath, buried all the pain somewhere where it wouldn't hurt until she allowed her hurt. She faced her father and managed a smile.

"Back under the console," she said breezily. "After all, the Egyptians sent food into the afterlife along with the dead. The Doctor might like a bit of turkey to nosh."

"That's not funny," Amy snapped from her position across the console room. She perched on the captain's chair, hugging herself and looking very young and lost. River hadn't seen her like that since Lake Silencio, the second time around. "How can you joke at a time like this?"

"What do you want me to do? Break down and cry?"

"He's your _husband_," Amy shot back. "He's dying! How can you be so cold?"

"I've had excellent lessons," River quipped, meeting her mother's judging gaze for one quick second, then broke it to run more calculations. Oh yes, she was a diligent student of the Amelia Pond-Williams school of denial.

"Amy," Rory murmured as he ascended the stairs, sans turkey. He squeezed her shoulder as he passed by the chair. "Leave her alone."

Amy whirled on him, hair whipping him in the face as she spun around and slid off the chair. "Oh, fine time for you to actually start acting like her father."

Rory held up his hands. "Look, all I'm saying is that the last thing the Doctor needs is for you two to be fighting-"

"We're not fighting," Amy and River said in union.

Rory helplessly glanced from his wife to his daughter and back again. He sighed and fisted his hair. "Why did I ever doubt that we're all biologically related?"

"Sorry, Dad. Despite appearances, I am very much a Pond." River breezed past her parents and down the stairs, wishing for the Doctor's sonic. But he still had it on him. Never mind. She could fiddle with the wires without a sonic, or perhaps the Old Girl would let her have access to one of the sonics the Doctor's other regenerations used.

Her strength suddenly gone, River sank into the swing seat beneath the console. She flexed her hands and reached for the wires she needed to adjust, to try to shave years off their reappearance on Trenzalore. She picked through the wires, found the two orange ones she needed, and started to twist them together. When the wires went blurry, she wondered if her eyesight was suddenly going. She blinked, and her vision cleared as tears rolled down her cheeks.

"River."

She squeezed her eyes shut at her father's voice, ignoring him to clear her mind. She couldn't cry. Not now. Not when the Doctor needed her so much. He needed her one last time, to make sure his grave was as it should be. Centuries upon centuries of travel and knowledge all embodied in the best and the worst man she'd ever known, producing one of the most powerful timelines the universe had ever seen. Every bright day she had witnessed of the Doctor's, every dark and evil legend she'd been told and seen flashed through her mind.

And she saw the kindness and the love he never voiced in his eyes as he loomed over her just a few hours ago, as they made love for the final time.

_Oh god, it was their final time_.

She was sobbing by the time Rory's arms came around her, as he patted her back and whispered soothing nonsense in her ear. He gently pulled her out of the chair, leading her away from the wires to sit on the stairs. There, he held her as she cried. She dimly heard her mother order her father to budge over as she squeezed in next to River to hug her from the other side. It felt like the storm lasted for years, but mere minutes passed before she found her self control once more. As the tears subsided, she laid her head on her father's shoulder as her mother stroked her hair.

"Well," Amy said, "if a Doctor ever needed a reminder of humanity in the afterlife, overcooked turkey will do the trick."

River laughed and Rory chuckled, shaking his head. Amy slapped her thighs and leaped to her feet. River quickly dashed away her tears and squeezed Rory's shoulder in thanks as she moved back to the swing seat to fix the wiring.

"There's nothing you can do? You can't fix this?" Amy asked her.

"Everyone dies eventually, even the Doctor," River replied. "The Time Lords could give him extra regenerations, but he was never among their favorites. Even now, they've not responded to us because we haven't spoken his name around the crack."

"Do they even know you're there?"

"Yes," River told Rory.

"How are you sure?"

"Just a gut feeling." River secured the last wire and looped it back into place. She gained her feet and grimaced a bit. She was still limber, but not the way she was when she left her parents behind to go rescue the Doctor the first time.

"How old are you now?" Amy asked as they ascended the stairs.

"Human equivalent of early 60s, I'd say. I'm still in very good shape, but I have slowed down some. As long as I take care, I'm all right. After all, isn't 60 the new 40?"

"I'm sure that's different for Time Lords."

"How did the Doctor get back without the TARDIS?" Rory asked as River checked their course.

"I still had my vortex manipulator. I stopped wearing it the way I used to, because we were in one place for so long." She wearily rubbed the bridge of her nose. "He probably had this planned all along and brought it with him when we came back to the TARDIS. He was always going to find a way to send me back." And she wasn't quite sure how she felt about that.

The time rotor shuddered to a stop, and River reached for the monitor. "We made it. A bit earlier than planned at that."

She led the way out of the TARDIS into the courtyard not far from the clock tower. Time had passed, a considerable amount from what it looked like. Most of the buildings were shabby and falling down, the effect of no longer having Tasha's shield from the Papal Mainframe protect the planet. It reminded River of when she time traveled to Europe after World War II. She'd taken for-granted how much Tasha had worked to protect them. Flames licked at whatever buildings weren't in ruin. The clock tower remained standing, a little worse for wear but clearly the sturdiest of the remaining buildings.

River led the way inside, Amy and Rory at her heels. They made their way into the basement, picking around the debris that had accumulated in River's absence. She rounded the corner to his workshop and gasped. Behind her, Amy moaned softly while Rory merely blinked and looked away.

The Doctor, older than River had ever seen him, hunched over a wooden toy. His wrinkled, aged hands slowly jerked a knife over the wood as he carved it into a dog. "Susan?" he called out.

River felt the tears well up once more as the Doctor called for his granddaughter. "Hello, sweetie," she rasped.

She could see his shoulders tense. She held her breath as he shifted through centuries upon centuries of memories until he hit the right one. "River?"

"Yes," she said softly. "And Amy and Rory."

The toy fell from his hands as he swiveled around in his chair. His eyes lit up. "The Ponds! Well, look at you."

"Doctor," Amy breathed.

He grabbed his cane and slowly pulled himself to his feet. He thumped his way over to him, and River found herself grasping her father's hand when she saw that the leg that pained the Doctor while she'd been there had been replaced by a wooden one. He squeezed her hand back in solidarity.

"Were you always so young?" The Doctor grasped Amy's hand. "Amelia Pond. Little Amelia Pond." He pressed his lips to the back of her hand.

"Raggedy Man." Amy hugged him as tight as she dared. "You're late for Christmas."

"Oh, but where I live, it's Christmas all the time! Didn't happen to bring a cracker, did you? Love those things." He winked at her.

"Seriously?" Amy arched an eyebrow. "You want a Christmas cracker? Haven't you noticed the pepper pots waiting to gun you down?"

"Daleks," the Doctor scoffed. "They can wait. Been waiting for centuries! What's another few minutes?"

"Wait." Rory patted down his jacket, then pulled a small Christmas cracker out of his pocket. "Got it from work," he explained, holding it out to the Doctor. "Didn't open it yet. Go on, have a go."

The Doctor beamed and grabbed the other end of the cracker. He tugged, but the cracker barely budged. His face fell as he tried once more, but it refused to give.

"It's OK, sweetie," River murmured and laid her hand over his. "It's a special one we'll pull together."

"Don't you mollycoddle me, River Song," the Doctor muttered.

"Wouldn't dream of it, my love," she rasped.

"I'll help Rory," Amy supplied and grabbed hold of Rory's end of the cracker. The four pulled at once, and the cracker broke apart with a loud bang.

"There we are, there we are," the Doctor crowed and sank back into his seat. "Tell me there's a joke in there. Love those jokes."

Amy picked up the paper that fell from the cracker. "Extract from Thoughts on a Clock by Eric Ritchie Jr. And now it's time for one last bow, like all your other selves. Eleven's hour is over now. The clock is striking twelve's."

The Doctor scowled. "I don't get it."

"I don't think you're meant to-" Rory started to say, but the building shook violently as another round of attacks landed nearby.

"Daleks," the Doctor spat. "Been demanding me for days now. Told everyone I had a plan."

"Do you?" Amy asked.

"Course not, but they love it when I say that." The Doctor got to his feet and began inching toward the door.

"Your idea of a plan usually involves talking until something happens then take the credit for it," Rory pointed out.

"Rory the Roman!" The Doctor grinned at him, tapped him with the cane, then his face grew sober once more. "Not this time though. This is it. Oh, I know those faces," he added when Amy and Rory's faces fell. "I'm old, but not senile. I remember Lake Silencio. River told you, I suppose."

"She's a good girl," Amy defended her.

The Doctor snorted. River rolled her eyes. As he made his way to the door again, River made sure her blaster was secured and followed. She backed up a couple paces as he swung around.

"Don't even try to tell me to stay," she cut in as he opened his mouth to protest. "You're not facing the Daleks alone."

"You have to keep your parents safe." Ignoring Amy and Rory, he cupped his wife's cheek. "River, don't you know why I sent you back? I'm keeping you all safe. I'm not going to let the Daleks take you, any of you, from me. Allow me that. One last victory, my bespoke psychopath." He lightly kissed her. "Thank you, dear." He wiped away the tear that spilled down her cheek, then turned to Amy and Rory, embracing them tightly. "The Girl Who Waited and the Lone Centurion. Take care of each other and your daughter."

He made his way to the stairs once more, shaking his head as he slowly climbed them. "The trouble with Daleks is, they take so long to say anything. Probably die of boredom before they shoot me."

"I'm going with him, as far as he'll let me," Rory told, then followed the Doctor up the stairs.

Amy and River stood next to each other as seconds crawled by. As the Doctor and Rory's footsteps faded, their eyes met, and together they faced the crack in the wall.

"Are you pondering what I'm pondering, Pinky?" River quipped, dredging up a cartoon they had watched a long time ago when they were young.

"Oh, I suppose so, but where are we going to get a mallet big enough to pound some sense into those blockhead Time Lord brains?"

"Hopefully, we won't need that." River moved in front of the crack and dropped to her knees. "All right. If he won't talk to you, I will. Are you in there, Romanadvoratrelundar? Can you hear me?"

"Who's that?" Amy whispered, dropping to her knees as well.

"A very old friend of the Doctor. She used to travel with him in the years before she became Lady President of Gallifrey but was forced to flee into an alternate universe," River explained. "He retrieved her from that universe during the Time War so she could assist him with the war effort. Romana!" She spoke again to the crack. "My name is River Song, and this is Amy Pond. We're the Doctor's family in your home universe. If you can hear me, if any of you can hear me, he needs your help. I know you've been asking for his name. But if he speaks it, or if I speak it, the universe will be plunged back into the Time War. Please, Romana, the Doctor is dying. I know the Time Lords can grant more regenerations. If any of you want to come home again, you need him to stay alive. Please. Help him. All of you owe your lives to him. Help him live so he can bring you home."

Nothing happened.

River let out the breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding. Amy wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "You tried," she said soothingly. "It's not your fault the Time Lords are a bunch of stubborn idiots!" Amy directed the last shout at the crack. "Don't they even know how much he's suffered in the centuries since the Time War?"

"I'm not even sure they could hear me to begin with." River slowly got to her feet, Amy along with her. She started to turn away from the crack when she heard it. A female voice, faint and lyrical, using the language only she and the Doctor knew. She froze.

"River?"

"Romana." River trailed her fingertips along the crack. "She heard me."

"Ha!" Amy pumped her fist. "What's she saying?"

"She wants me to prove that we're the Doctor's family."

"But, how?"

River frowned. Then, she began to speak in Gallifreyan to the crack. She spoke softly and rapidly, barely flinching when she stumbled slightly on some of the conjugations. That, she blamed on her teacher. She talked about Demon's Run, about the Silence, about how she came to exist. She explained the broken time where she and the Doctor married, about how he came to meet her parents. She reached in every corner of her mind she could for proof of her ties to the Doctor, and when she was done, she noticed the shadows crawling along the floor.

"How long have I been talking?" she asked Amy.

"Fifteen minutes maybe? Twenty?" Amy hugged herself. "It's like you were singing."

"Hang on." River held up a hand. Then, she smiled and spoke a single sentence in Gallifreyan, then took a deep breath.

"So, what were you saying?" Amy asked.

"I was telling her about us. The four of us."

"And that last thing?"

River grinned. "She asked me how many looks she tried before settling on one in her second incarnation. If I'm really the Doctor's wife, if I really did all that research into his past, then I would know."

Amy arched an eyebrow. "And, how many was that?"

"Technically five, though the first and last were the same. She assumed the form of Princess Astra of Atrios. She –" River cut off as a groaning came from the crack. A puff of white smoke spurted from the crack, then it slowly closed.

River backed away slowly from the crack, bumping into her mother. "Did they do it?" Amy whispered.

"I don't know." River raced upstairs, Amy at her heels. They ran out the door just as white light shot from the top of the clock tower. River automatically pulled out her gun, sending a ray of fire at a Dalek who was ignoring the light show to try to pick off unsuspecting villagers.

"We need to get everyone inside!" River shouted to Rory, who was checking the injured. "Hurry!"

"What's happening?" Rory yelled as Amy started to order everyone to go in the clock tower.

River shielded her eyes, squinted to see through the light. She pulled herself up as she saw the burst of regeneration energy shoot toward the sky, incinerating the Dalek ship.

"The Time Lords did it," she breathed. "He's regenerating. Number 13. This entire area's going to explode."

* * *

Regeneration No. 13. He couldn't believe it. It was the breaking of some serious science. He was dying. He was finally prepared to die. But now, he was going to live.

He felt his bones shift, his energy replenish. His body was healing itself, taking the age down just before it shifted to his new body. Not yet, he told himself, willed the power to subside. He felt the humming beneath his skin and knew this time it was different. Those extra regenerations. He wondered how it happened. Who made it happen. His money was on either River or Amy, and he'd have time soon enough to ask them both.

But for now …

The Doctor leaned over the crumbling ledge of the tower, restored vision scanning through the survivors until he picked out the one he wanted. His hands glowed once more as he formed energy into a ball in his hands. Oh, Romana could do it so much better than he. It was how she was able to cycle among so many looks in such a short amount of time. Still … ah, yes. He had it. With a whoosh of breath, he blew the focused regeneration energy into the courtyard.

* * *

"Hurry, hurry!" Amy yelled as Rory helped an elderly couple into the clock tower. She ushered the last of the stragglers inside and started to close the door. "River!" she screamed.

Lowering her hand from where she shielded her eyes, River pivoted. Her knees creaked, and she inwardly cursed. She took two steps and stumbled over a piece of debris. Her gun spurted out of her hands as she landed on her hands and knees. Stupid, stupid, she scolded herself. She wasn't as young as she once was. Too much time on Trenzalore.

"River!" Amy gasped.

"Close the doors, Amy!" River yelled over her shoulder as she stood.

A golden cloud wafted from the top of the crumbling tower, and River stared at it, fascinated. She knew she had to move, had to join the others. Or at least get back to the TARDIS, move it to where the Doctor was. But, her feet remained frozen to the spot, and as she inhaled, the cloud of energy picked up speed and flowed into her.

"What was that?" Amy rushed down the stairs as River began to glow.

"Stay back!" River held up her hands to ward off Amy, then her eyes grew wide as the liver spots on the backs of her hands disappeared. Her skin firmed, her energy returned. "Oh, that man," she breathed as her wounds healed. "You sentimental idiot! You shouldn't be wasting those on me!"

"Wasting what?" Amy asked, but River was already halfway to the TARDIS before she caught up.

River yanked open the door and came face to face with the Doctor, newly restored to his youth with a bowl of fish fingers and custard nestled in the crook of one arm.

"Hi, honey, you're home!" The Doctor cheerfully told her.

With a snarl, River started to slap him, but he caught her wrist in his hand. "Now, now, Dr. Song, is that how you greet your husband in front of your mother?"

"You take them back," River ordered, nudging the Doctor into the room until his back hit the console. He hastily nestled the bowl between the controls. "You take them back right now; they weren't ever meant for me."

"No takesies backsies." The Doctor bopped River's nose. "My regenerations, my decision. Now, we're even again."

"What did he do?" Amy followed them into the TARDIS. "You're back to normal!"

"Not for long," the Doctor said over River's shoulder. "I'm still changing. Becoming a new man. Thanks to one or the both of you, Trenzalore isn't my final destination after all. Or, at least right now."

"But, you still didn't explain what you did to my daughter."

"Only returned what she gave me in Berlin a long time ago." He ran his thumb over the double pulse in River's wrist. "Not all of them, but once we work out a way to get Gallifrey out of the pocket universe, we'll sort out the rest. Regenerations, Pond. At least five of them. I kept seven, seeing that I'm in the process of using one at the moment. That'll leave me with six and her with five, but that'll be long enough, eh? As long as you don't keep flinging yourself off buildings, River Song, I'll get you the other five I owe you."

Before she could answer, he tugged her in and kissed her. Her first instinct was to push him away, because she really was still mad at him. Then her mind went still, and the possible timelines stretched before her. All of them led to an unknown future, all held the same thing – that this was the very last time this version of the Doctor would ever kiss her. She would see younger him again. His older self would see a younger her, maybe older as well. But this was the very last time for this him, the him that stood upon a pyramid in a broken time and married her.

Resistance gone, River threw her arms around his neck and returned the kiss, deepened it as his hands found her hips and drew her flush with his body. She didn't care that her mother was watching. Had she the time, she would strip him bare, lay him over the console and do unspeakable things with him. But time was running out, and she knew what it was costing him to hang on long enough to tell them good-bye.

They ended the kiss at the same time, and she managed a tremulous smile as he swept his thumbs over the apple of her cheeks. "My bespoke psychopath," he said fondly.

"Amy!" Rory ran into the TARDIS as the Doctor reluctantly let his hands drop from River and gripped the console. "You're OK! I thought you said he was becoming a different person?"

"Oh, but I am. It's started I can't stop it now. This is just the reset before the new regeneration cycle kicks in." The Doctor slowly moved around the console, circling it until he could face them. River sucked in a breath. She could see the change now, just hovering beneath the surface. "Still, it just disappears, doesn't it? Everything you gone in a moment like breath on a mirror." He gestured with the finesse of a conductor. "Any moment now. He's a-coming."

"Who's coming?" Amy asked warily.

"The Doctor," River automatically answered, and he inclined his head to her, pleased.

"But he _is_ the Doctor," Rory pointed out.

"Yep," the Doctor drawled. "And I always will be. We all change. When you think about it, we're all different people all through our lives. And that's okay, that's good. You've got to keep moving, so long as you remember all the people that you used to be. I will not forget one line of this." He pointed to Amy, then to Rory, then to River. "Not one day. I swear. I will always remember when the Doctor was me." A wan smile crossed his face, eyes warm and kind.

Amy slowly moved across the console room, stepping in front of the Doctor. His smile grew wider. "Amelia Pond. The first face this face ever saw."

Hand trembling, Amy cupped his cheek. "Raggedy Man." She kissed his cheek and felt tears splash against it. "Good night," she whispered and backed away into Rory's waiting arms. He hugged her tightly and nodded to the Doctor.

* * *

He nodded to Rory and leaned against the console, exhaustion in every movement. There was no turning back. He'd held off long enough. Any more, and he would risk damaging the TARDIS the same way his tenth self had.

Amy openly wept now, and the last time he remembered her in tears was on the shores of Lake Silencio. No. When her daughter was taken from her. He looked around the console room and … ah, there she was. His River. Still standing on the other side of the console where he'd kissed her. Her stance was rigid, eyes blank. Oh, but he knew her. He knew his wife. She was being strong, because she would carry them all through it.

Slowly, he tugged his bow tie loose and held it out to her. Moving woodenly, River took the few steps to his side and held out her hand. He let it drop into her palm, carefully folded her fingers over it before lifting her hand to his lips and kissing it. She squeezed her eyes shut, just briefly, and when they opened again, tears shone in them.

Golden light sparkled around their joined hands, and she quickly withdrew, backing up until she was between her parents. They closed ranks around her, Amy on her right and Rory on her left. That was good. His Ponds. They would be fine. He smiled at them.

They were the last thing he ever saw.

* * *

The regeneration was abnormally short, but looking back at it much later, River realized the Doctor had staved off the final good-bye as long as possible. Not just to provide closure to her and her parents, but to minimize the damage to the TARDIS. His tenth self's vanity issues had caused an immense amount of destruction during his regeneration, he'd once told her.

This Doctor was much older, with silver hair, a handsome, cragged face and keen, sharp, slightly bulging eyes. He overcompensated on the eyebrows, which amused her. He gasped in his first breath of air, and on either side of her, Amy and Rory gasped as well. The knot of dread in River's stomach loosened, and she nearly laughed in relief. She knew this face.

The Doctor slowly approached them, pushed his face into Amy's face, then Rory's, then her own. With a groan of pain, he stumbled and clutched his side before regaining his stance. "Kidneys! I've got new kidneys!"

Amy and Rory exchanged nervous glances.

The Doctor shook his head. "I don't like the color!"

"You don't like the color of your kidneys?" Rory asked hesitantly.

The TARDIS pitched wildly, strange shrieking noises coming from the console as everyone grabbed hold of the nearest solid surface. River landed against one of the railings and pushed off, rushing to the console as the Doctor circled to the other side and jabbed a couple switches. Alarm bells sounded in her mind as he pressed buttons at random.

"We're probably crashing!" The Doctor worked his way around the console to her.

"Into what?" Amy yelped.

"Stay calm! Just one question." He grabbed River's arm as she struggled to bring the TARDIS under control. Her eyes met his. "Do you happen to know how to fly this thing?"

* * *

_Epilogue_

Someone had the latest _Eastenders_ Christmas special on. Rubbish bins were filled with leftover present wrappings and the scraps from Christmas feasts. Children played with their new bikes and toys in the dusk. Amy stood at the park entrance, mind still reeling from the past few hours.

"I can't believe it's still Christmas," she said as Rory joined her. "It feels like it's been a year."

He took her hand. "Are you OK?"

"How can I be OK? It's all so strange. He's been my Raggedy Doctor for 20 years, and now he's just gone."

"Not gone. New face. Kind of like plastic surgery. OK, not helpful," Rory said when Amy arched an eyebrow. "Hey, it's like Mels. Mels when she became River. You said you met past versions of him, right? Not so different from that."

"But, I was still with him at the time! I'm never going to see my Raggedy Man again." Amy squeezed her eyes closed as Rory pulled her into his arms once more. He patted the back of her head as the TARDIS door opened and River stepped out. Her face was tired, her eyes sad, and even her hair seemed limp. Amy wasn't the only one grieving, he thought as River walked to them. His daughter had seen her husband die, and though she was better equipped than all of them to deal with the change, Rory knew it still took an emotional toll.

"He's exploring the one of the kitchens, looking for something to eat. He has this strange fixation on turkey."

"Oh God, the turkey!" Amy pulled away from Rory. "It's still roasting under the console in the TARDIS."

"Well, that explains it," River murmured, shaking her head.

"Are you all right?" Rory nodded at River's hand, and she opened her still-curled fist. The Doctor's bow tie unfolded, gently waved in the wind. She'd clutched it the entire time she'd fought with the TARDIS to get it back under control, when she managed to bring them all back to London in one piece and only a couple hours after they'd left.

"It's still a bit of a shock. He's still the same man. Really," she said, directing her statement at Amy. "I've seen him before, in my past. I knew it was coming, and I thought I'd prepared myself. I guess I hadn't as well as I thought. But, it's going to be all right, Amy. I promise. He looks different, but he's still the Doctor."

"Of course I'm still the Doctor." River jolted, concerned she hadn't heard him come out the door. He stalked across the park to them, turkey leg in hand. He, apparently, had remembered the turkey beneath the console. "You're my Ponds, and you're my wife," he concluded. "And I don't like the shape of my earlobes either. Now, chin up, Pond. We'll still have adventures."

"Now with 100% more eyebrows." River blurted the cheeky observation before she realized it and was rewarded with those bushy eyebrows being arched at her.

"You've got a sassy mouth," the Doctor informed her.

"And, you've got a Scottish one," she replied. "A bit salty as well."

The Doctor moved into River's personal space, face just a hair's breath from hers. "I blame you Ponds for being a bad influence."

"Well, you're looking in the wrong place if you want a _good_ influence, my love."

"See?" Rory said to Amy. "They're still flirting. If that's not a good sign, I don't know what is."

"This turkey's dry." Eyes still locked on River's, the Doctor pitched the turkey leg into the bushes. "What else is there to eat?"

"We still have the rest of Christmas dinner," Amy said. She waved at the house. "Want to join us?"

"Very well, as long as there's no real potatoes. Hate those things. Got any of those boxed spuds?" The Doctor gave his wife one last smoldering look and started across the street. "Come on, then. Don't just stand there with your mouths gaping like fish. Let's eat!"


End file.
